How to duplicate an object without duplicating animation data?
I don't know how to do such duplication without involving Python scripting. If you're concerned about removing action from a large amount of objects quickly, though, you could use this:

Select all objects you want to remove action from, ending with any other object without any action attached as the active/last selected object. Then execute Object > Make Links (Ctrl-L), and select Animation Data. It will copy the action from active object, which is None, to every other selected objects, effectively removing their animation data. 

Not exactly what you're looking for, but worth considering as an alternative solution.